Helloooooooo Canada

After pushing hard for two days in a row, we had positioned ourselves for an easy mid-day border crossing into Canada on Wednesday.   That all went well.  We had no fruits or vegetables,  a minimum amount of alcohol, and no guns/ammo.  The only real question was why we, as Maryland residents, had Nevada license plates on our vehicle.   Easily explained and we went on through.

The remainder of the day, we plucked our way through mostly unappealing terrain. What could/should have been a beautiful drive, was cluttered with billboards … thousands of them, small and large commercial areas, and much congestion.  It took a long time to travel not very far.  We can only imagine what it would have been like at the height of summer.  Glad we’re here now – ahead of the travel curve.

We made our way to the O’Keefe Ranch – a site we wanted to tour Thursday.  The on-site camping was a stone’s throw from the highway, as were many campgrounds we passed along the way.  Unaesthetic, but we were so tired, it didn’t matter.

Only a few beauties along the way:

The O’Keefe cattle ranch was settled in the 1860’s.   The buildings have been placed in a historic trust and open to the public for tours.  The interesting guided tour provided insight about the grit it took for Canadian pioneers moving into British Columbia.  The original settler, Cornelius O’Keefe, has three wives and a total of 17 children.  Many descendants still live in the area.
This home was quite luxurious for the era.

Interesting detail on how wallpaper was applied:

We learned about 'overlanders' - pioneers who traveled part the way west by public transportation (stagecoaches) then the rest of the way (250-300 miles) on FOOT!   Brave and hearty souls.  The overlander family that eventually built this house traveled with 3 small children.  On the day they arrived in the area, mom delivered another baby.

School house on the ranch

Ranch activities the evening we were there

Friday, we drove to Barkerville, and toured another national historic site.

Sights along the way:

Lunch spot along the way:  

Barkersville was settled in the 1860’s as part of the Cariboo Gold Rush.  There are 125 original buildings on site. 

Costumed docent tours taught us everything we ever wanted to know about life in a Gold Rush town.

A few gold miners made money, most didn’t.  The people who started businesses catering to the gold miners did very well.  Successful entrepreneurs included women who ran boarding houses, and black physicians and dentists who fled the United States in fear of slavery laws.  

Buildings are built on stilts to accommodate overflowing riverbanks during spring melt, caused by stream modification and lumbering for building and mine timbers.

As we were leaving Barkerville, it was raining, we were chugging along an old country road – about 50 miles to our planned campsite, and right there on the side of the road was a BEAR !  Our first of what we hope will be many sightings. 
Saturday, we made a big push to Dawson Creek – ‘Mile 0’ of the AlCan (Alaska Canadian Highway).  We’ve traveled 2284 miles since picking up the RV in Los Angeles.
Happy Trails -K&T